This is the 21st century, and in today’s day and age, almost every civilized nation on earth has banned the use of the death penalty, and with good reason. While the death penalty may seem like the only appropriate punishment in the case of certain especially heinous crimes, the reality is that as a matter of public policy it’s obscenely expensive, ineffective as a deterrent, and a significant number of executed inmates have later been proven innocent in recent years. In light of these facts, we fully support legislation to permanently ban the use of death penalty on both the state and federal level.
To better understand why banning the death penalty is so necessary, watch John Oliver’s recent breakdown of the issue on Last Week Tonight: